This week's new DVD & Blu-ray

The Strange World Of Gurney Slade Just over half a century ago, 1960s audiences were shocked and horrified by this freeform, experimental comedy series starring all-round entertainer Anthony Newley. It blew many minds, and those not blown were outraged. It starts off, like many working-class sitcoms of the time, with a family shouting at each other around the kitchen table, but one character, played by Newley, just isn't joining in. Refusing to say his lines, he simply gets up and walks, breaking the fourth wall and walking out of the studio and on to the streets (followed by the all-seeing TV cameras). It's completely unpredictable, stream-of-consciousness stuff, light on its feet and imaginative. Newley wanders the streets, imagines what people are thinking, dances with a vacuum cleaner, chats with a dustbin, meets up with the public. It's a heady brew, one that recalls the Beatles' Help movie or the more surreal parts of Monty Python, but after two episodes it was yanked from prime time and left to finish its six-episode run in the graveyard slot. Viewed now, it more than lives up to its reputation as something completely ahead of the game. Much of it is so strange that you don't have to imagine too hard as to what people made of it in 1960, as 51 years on it's still as fresh, innovative and bizarre as ever. DVD, Network The Extraordinary Adventures Of Adèle Blanc-Sec Camp early-20th century-set fantasy about the exploits of a female novelist. DVD & Blu-ray, Optimum Kevin Smith Collection Three of the New Jersey director's comedies, featuring Clerks, Chasing Amy and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back. DVD, Miramax Mars Needs Moms Fifties B-movie-inspired animated kidflick about a Martian plot to steal Earth's mothers. DVD, Disney Vantage Point Dennis Quaid stars in a reissuedmultiple-POV thriller about an assassination attempt on the US President. DVD, Sony